We All Need Sleep
by awsomekelly
Summary: Percy comes home one night from work, tired and overly stressed. When Percy's mom comes to ask him if he's okay, he takes his entire bad day out on her. Being tired makes us do the wacky. Based off of personal experience. Hope u like. better than summary.


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**A/N: OK! this is my first one-shot. This story is from a past experience that just happened to me over the weekend. I came home from a sleepover on sunday and...well... if i told u it would ruin the story. So ill tell u at the end. ANYWAY! i hope u LUV my first one-shot and to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review. OK? OK!**

**DISCLAIMER!: As i have said in past storys, i do not believe it is necassary to disclaime these storys because if i were rick riordan, I would be sitting on a computer typing all day, nearly going blind. Well, i spend most of my day on a computer anyway but that's not the point. Anyway, if i must disclaime, i guess i will.**

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Okay, even Percy had to admit that he was _extremely _tired. He just didn't want to admit it to his _mom_. She knew he was overworked from his part-time job - she knew from past experiences that being a waiter could be tough - and having to study for three Finals in one week. No, Percy wasn't tired, he was _exhausted_. And Sally knew that it was only a matter of time before he either crashed, or blew up. But, she had no idea that it would be this soon.

Sally was just watching a movie by herself in the living room, to find the front door swing open with such a force, Sally jumped in surprise. Percy trudged in angrily with his hood on top of his head, wet from the rain. He slid his shoes off quickly and walked past his mother, not even bothering to say a quick 'Hi'.

"Stupid rain. Why does Zeus hate me? Why did it have to rain today!" Sally heard Percy mumble when he entered his room.

She walked down the hall quietly, trying not to bother the poor, stressed out high school student that was just waiting for someone to blame for his painfully long, and tiring day.

"Percy, are you okay?" Sally asked, leaning her side against the doorframe.

"Do I look okay? Why would you ask me such a stupid question?" He asked while loosening his small, annoying tie. Sally could literally see the purple bags under his eyes.

"Because I'm your mother and I know how tired you are." She replied patiently.

"I'm not tired!" Percy yelled, a little louder than he thought. He doesn't like snapping at his mom, and he rarely ever does, but he can't stop the words from coming out of his mouth.

"Yes you are, and I don't want you to go to the mall tomorrow with Annabeth. You need to sleep in." Percy expression changed from tired-angry, to _extremly _angry in less than two seconds. No normal mother would think that their child could make such an angry expression, but Sally Jackson knew better.

"You can't tell me what to do anymore! I'm not a little kid! I can go if I want and there's nothing you can do to stop me! Plus, I don't need to sleep in because I'm not _tired_!" Percy spat.

Sally stared at Percy, Percy glared back, but in a much angrier way. Sally looked at him long enough to notice that his eyes were blood-shot, and knew that if he stayed up much longer, he would pass out.

She shook her head, "Gods, you're exhausted."

Percy pouted and turned away, continuing to take off his tie. Sally could tell that he didn't want to talk anymore, but she had to ask, "What time did you go to sleep last night?"

"I was studying." He said, clearly annoyed while stripping off his shirt and changing into a comfortable T-shirt.

"That doesn't answer my question." Sally said as calmly as she possibly could.

"Mom! Could you just..." He didn't finish.

"'Just' what?"

Percy sighed, "Around...two, maybe three in the morning?"

"Oh, Percy. You're not going to the mall tomorrow. I want you to go to bed early, and sleep as long as you need to." Percy could tell that his mom was worried, but was too fed up ad just so damn _tired _to even care what his mother was thinking.

"I don't need to sleep! I'm not tired! I can stay awake for days if I wanted to! So stop telling me how tired I am! And I'm going to the mall tomorrow!" Percy was about ready to get on his knees and plead for him to go, even though he knew his mother wasn't going to change her mind. Why would Annabeth want to put up with me when I'm moody anyway? He thought to himself. Of course she wouldn't want to. But Percy hated feeling weak, and whenever Sally told him what to do he felt weaker than ever.

"No you're not." Sally said, "You aren't going to wake up in the morning, anyway. And I certainly won't wake you up, so what's the point in fighting about this? _You _know you're tired, and _I _know you're tired, so why don't you just get some sleep? Stop working yourself so hard, and stop acting like you're Superman, because you and I both know that the only reason why you're yelling at me is because you're overworked, overtired, and overly stressed. Okay?"

Percy stared at the floor, realizing how stupid he was acting. He suddenly noticed how heavy his eyes were, and how much harder it was to stand than he noticed a moment ago. How could he yell at his mother like this? How could he possibly think that there was something wrong with _her_, and not something wrong with himself? Why was he such an idiot sometimes?

Percy put his head in his hand, rubbing his eyes. He turned away from Sally, and didn't say another word. Sally took the silence as an invitation to leave, and said a small 'Goodnight' to him, without a reply.

Sally snuck into her own bedroom to find her husband, Paul, reading a book about english literature. She snuggled up against him as he closed his book. Paul probably heard the whole rampage.

"What was that all about?" He asked.

"He's just _so_ exhausted from all the pressure finals has been giving him. His job isn't helping, either." Sally replied, snuggling under the covers to rest her head on her husbands shoulder.

"Do you want me to give him an extra day?"

"No. He's studying fine, it's just he over does it."

"You aren't letting him go tomorrow?"

"Nope. I'm going to call Annabeth in the morning to tell her. The last thing Percy needs is to have to wake up on a Saturday morning and walk around a mall for three hours." Sally sighed, and adjusted her head, trying to find a comfortable position.

"Why doesn't he like to admit he's tired?" Paul asked.

"I don't know. I guess it's because he doesn't like to feel weak, but he's been doing this ever since he was little. Whenever I told him he was tired or sleepy, he would always deny it. He would fall asleep about five minutes later." Paul let out a laugh.

"Does that mean you want to go check on him?" He asked. Sally nodded, and got out of the bed to go see if her son was asleep.

Sure enough, when Sally opened the door, she found her eighteen year old snuggled up on his bed and fast asleep, snoring lightely. Not wanting to wake him, Sally backed out of the room and returned to her own bed, where she too fell asleep about five minutes later.

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The next morning, Sally didn't bother making Percy breakfast, since she knew that Percy probably won't be getting up until after noon.

When Percy finally emerged from his room, he looked half asleep and his hair was a mess.

"Good morning. Or should I say afternoon." Sally said while he sat down at the table and put his head in his hands.

"I told Annabeth that you might be able to hang out with her later." She said, "If...you want to."

Percy grunted, and half-heartedly smiled up at his mother, not enjoying the bright light of the kitchen.

"Percy, what's the matter?" Sally asked.

"Nothing." Percy said plainly, while shrugging. "Just tired."

"You shouldn't overwork yourself like that, Percy. I know that you're under a lot of stress, but you need to learn when to take a break."

"I know." Was all he said in return. Sally took a seat at the table next to him, ignoring the look he was giving her while sipping nonchalantly at her coffee.

"Where's Paul?" Percy asked.

"Oh, I'm not sure. He left a few minutes ago." Sally replied. There was a tension filled quiet that lasted a few minutes after that. Neither of them wanted to speak first, and of course Percy didn't want to admit that he was incredibly wrong to snap at her, even if he didn't remember most of it since sleep covered up his day.

"Mom." Percy finally said after a few more moments of silence. Sally turned her head toward him with an unreadable expression on her face. "Look...I'm sorry about last night and for the way I yelled at you, I guess not getting enough sleep really brings out the worst in me."

"Yes, without sleep we would all be crazy." Was her response. But then she noticed the pain and worried expression on his face. "Percy, I'm use to you acting like that when you're tired. You've been doing that ever since you were born."

Percy looked puzzled, "Really? I don't remember that."

Sally shrugged, "Maybe it was because you were just so tired. Don't worry about it, Percy. You were stressed out and I can understand that, just make sure you keep up with school, _and_ get enough sleep, okay?"

"Sure. But, I really am sorry for taking it out on you. I don't do that often, do I?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrows. Sally smiled and shook her head.

After that, the tension filled silence turned into a comfortable quiet. And both Sally and Percy knew that this wouldn't be the last time they had a disagreement, but neither of them seemed to care. They simply enjoyed the last of their time together before Percy graduates the next week, and moved out of the house. But Sally certainly hoped that he would go to bed at a good time for him when he was by himself.

Because each and every single one of us know... we all need sleep.

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**THIS JUST IN:**

**SLEEPING IS HEALTHY! GET ENOUGH SLEEP PEEPS!**

_**PLEASE READ THIS NEXT PART!:**_

**Ok, as i have told you in the beginning of the story that most of this is from a past experience that happened to me just over the weekend. I came home on sunday from a sleepover. We went to bed at 2, and i woke up around... 8:30. so i really only had about 6 hours of sleep, which I'm not use to AT ALL! so, when my dad came to pick me up, he told me that my mom was making me go to church (im not the biggest fan of church) and so i txted her if i could skip becus i was planning on going to the mall with a few of my friends and my boyfriend. so kept txting her and when she got home she came up to my room and told me that we were still going to church. Thats when i flipped out. I kept on BEGGING her if we could go for a few minutes and then she started to walk out of the room and i screamed at her to not walk away from me when im talking to her. so then she started saying how tired i was and that i should go to bed early. Thats when i REALLY flipped out. i screamed at her that I wasnt tired and that i didnt need to go to bed early. Then she walked out and said that she wasnt listening and so then i screamed at her saying that i wasnt going to church, so then she came back into the room saying "U know where you're not going? the mall." and so thats when i REALLY REALLY flipped out and told her that i was still going and she finally agreed for me to still go but i had to go to church**

**When i was waiting in the car for my dad to drive me to the mall, i kept on thinking how annoying he was and how stupid he was, and i dont know why. then when he got into the car he kept asking me questions about who i was going with and what we were going to do. And i just felt so annoyed that it got to the point where NOTHING he said was ok or wasnt annoying. I FELT SO FRUSTRATED. and after i felt like i had to cry, AND I DONT KNOW WHY! **

**What sucks is, while i was at the mall i got SOOOO tired. and it was because the sleep caught up to me and i realized i was ALREADY tired because of the sleepover, and my mom was right. another thing that sucks is when we were driving home from church, my brother was blasting music, and i literally fell asleep in the car for about 2 minutes. i was SOOO exhausted.**

**So, i learned to never question your mom when she says your tired, when u ARE tired u get really moody, and...to never go ANYWHERE the day after a sleepover when u had less than eight hours of sleep. **

_**TAKE MY ADVISE! U WONT REGRET IT!**_

_**AWSOMEKELLY OUT!**_


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